Experts say North Korea doesn't want peace talks — it wants nuclear missiles and to bully the US

North Korea won't seriously engage in peace talks until
it has satisfied itself with its missiles and nuclear
warheads.It doesn't really matter what the US offers right
now.Victory for North Korea doesn't mean battle, it means
bullying and blackmailing the US into concessions.

Heated rhetoric
from President Donald Trump pointed at North Korea has dominated
news coverage and headlines for months now, but no tone or type
of conversation can change the fact that North Korea doesn't want
peace talks right now.

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While Trump's threats may have fanned the flames
of today's North Korean crisis, the driving force is North Korean
missile and nuclear tests that clearly pose a threat to the
region and the US mainland.

"Trump's method is perhaps not the best, but at the same time we
shouldn't mix up the responsibilities," Jean-Yves Le Drian,
France's foreign minister said, according to Reuters. "The
country that is breaking with nuclear international agreements is
North Korea."

International observers have urged the US to pursue
diplomacy and talks with North Korea, but Pyongyang doesn't
seem interested. Denuclearization is a
non-starter for negotiations. At best, North Korea may accept
the US and South Korea from stopping their legal, above board,
military drills in exchange for them freezing their illegal
nuclear program.

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But being coerced to stop a legal activity by another actor's
illegal activity is called
blackmail, and no US president has seriously entertained it.

North Korea stands a short sprint from achieving full nuclear
capability, and several experts contacted by Business Insider do
not believe Pyongyang would lay down its arms so close to its
goal.

"I
think they will first want to demonstrate their capacity to have
an ICBM … that could reach the United States" before negotiating,
Suzanne DiMaggio, a director and senior fellow at the New America
think thank who directs unofficial talks between the US and the
North Koreans, told Axios.

To demonstrate this capacity, North Korea needs to
test more. Pyongyang has learned all it can from laboratory
tests, simulations, and lofting missiles halfway to space instead
of around the globe.

North Korea needs to keep firing missiles, probably over
Japan, to demonstrate a credible ICBM in real world
conditions. This need exists independently of Trump's
threats.

"North Korea will complete its remaining tests before softening"
its negotiating position, Tong Zhao, a leading North Korea expert
with the Carnegie's Nuclear Policy Program in Beijing, told
Business Insider.

In short, experts say there's little that would bring North Korea
to the table right now. Only after North Korea has satisfied
itself with its nuclear and missile technologies will it talk
with the US on anything close to acceptable terms.

North Korea wants recognition as a nuclear arms state. It
wants national and international prestige. It wants the US to
forgive and forget the torture and death
of Otto Warmbier. It wants to have the sinking of the ROKS
Cheonan and the death of the 46 South Koreans on board swept
under the rug. It wants its countless shellings and murders along
the DMZ not to matter.

North Korea wants to intimidate and bully the US into
concessions and guarantees of its safety while it disregards
international law and violates the human
rights of its citizens.

"We are adequately protected against the current threat" from
North Korea, Gen. Joseph Dunford
told the Senate on Tuesday. But, he admitted, the current
estimate that Pyongyang will have an ICBM capable of accurately
hitting the US mainland by late 2018 is accurate.

"In terms of a sense of urgency today, North Korea poses the
greatest threat today."